Connecticut western news., 1887-01-19
CATCHING A MAIL THIEF.
Tho Story Told by a Postal Department
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Tho Story Told by Postal Department
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 Before the days of Post Office money orders and the registry system, the amount of bank notes sent by mail was enormous. People had to send either this way or by express, and,. though every sender felt that the mails were not quite safe, he would take his chances. There were many robberies, as we all know, but not one dollar was taken for $5,C00 sent. Nowadays if registered letter is missing 1t can be traced pretty close to the party who took it, but in those days Gove rhment officer had to work for days or weeks to nab the guilty party.
 remember that l was once sent to Illinois to investigate the numerous complaints which had come regarding certain route. This route began at Springfield and extended sixty seven miles, taking in towns which will call Liverpool, Abbeville White Rock, D. visburg, and Montgomery. 1t was all stage route, and, as the country was well settled up, the mails were always heavy. Most of the complaints had come from citizens of Springfield and Montgomery. These were the two lar, gest places, and were st the extreme ends of the route Money sent from Springfield would not reach Montgom- cry, and vice versa That Is, it would not reach the hands of the persons for whom it was intended,sa1 set to work believing that l had hard job before me, for all the Postmasters were men who were above suspicion 1 first rode over the route several times, or un. til perfectly satisfied that tho mail r rlers had nothing to do with the robberies. The nearest town to Spring geld was Liverpool. mailed a decoy letter from there to Springfield, and it was safely delivered. The nearest town to Montgomery was Davisburg. Imailed a decoy letter from there to Montgomery, and it was safely delivered. That seemed to prove that the robbery was at Abbe- vile or Wbite Rock. I mailed from Abbeville one way and from White Rock the other, and, after few days, was convinced that the trouble was iu the latter Post Office
 White Rock was village of seven hundred inhabitants, and the Post Office was kept in the wing of a dry goods store. The wing had been built on for the office, and besides having door from the street there was second from the store aud third from the family sitting room. This latter led into the office itself, and was used only by the Postmaster and his family. The Post master was man nearly sixty years old, reasonably we'll off, and the first look into his face satisfied me that he could know nothing of the robberies. He | had two clerks in the store with him, but they had nothing to do with the mails. After little observation I dis covered that the Postmaster was assisted by his wife, Q woman of about hls own age, and by young woman who was related to them, but served as hired ] girl. Everything seemed to be honest and straig ight1orward in the office, as far as could sec from the corridor, but that would have been the case in any event. 1 mailed q decoy letter from that office to Springfield, and it passed safely. Then mailed one from there to Mont l gomery, and it was lost. In the course of three weeks 1 got three decoy letters over the route all right, while three more were stolen, and all the evidence seemed to point to W hite Rock as the place.
 By carefully watching the White Rock office I found that on days when the mail reached there at ii o'clock A. M., which was its schedule time, my decoy letters went no further When the stage was late, which was frequent oc- currence, the letters got no further. l soon solved this mystery. If the mail came in on time the young woman 1 helped to sort, wrap, and distribute ii while the stage waited. If it was late she had to be busy about the dinner, and the Postmaster and his wife did the work. l was soon assured that the girl was the guilty party, and when began to make inquiries about her I found that she had a very dissipated brother ir Springfield, and that she wrote him al least once week. Iwent to Spring field to look him up, and found hin drinking, playing billiards. and smok ing cigars. Seemingly he had plenty o money. In all my decoy letters 1 had of course, marked the bills, and as luck would have it, had not shadowed the young man over half an hour when she offered one of these bills to barkeeper and managed to secure it in change Then had him locked uN, and Ire turned to White Rock to deal with his sister. first took the Postmaster aside and made myself k. own, and showed him my proofs. He was greatly agi tated: but firm in his belief that the gir was innocent, and could explain matters 1 held my interview with her in thu kitchen. She was furiously indignan at first, and even when 1 explained tn, decoy letters and showed her the marked money she would not yield hair breadth. l made a search of her room and Tn her trunx found at least twent. letters and envelopes, and every one O
 which had contained money and beel stolen from the mails. The sight o thsse broke her down, and she con
 fessed to having abstracted in all ove
 $500, every do,lu of which had gone t
 her brother, who was her nearest rela
 tive ,nl leloved in spite of his Il F. character. She get off with fine
 l believe, while the brother was mad'
 accessory and got 8 sentence of yea
 or so, and the matter so worked on tn mind of the old Postmaster that h. hanged himself in the barn few day
 after the case was disposed Of.
 "WHAr would the world do withou 5 alcohol!' asks an exchange. That ha
 never benzlne, and probably never wi